Dr. Martin A. Schmidt ’81 is the 19th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). In this role, he is committed to building on RPI’s 200-year tradition as a premier science and engineering university, integrating creativity with science and technology to address society’s greatest challenges.

Leveraging RPI’s unique assets –  its world-class Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), IBM Quantum System One and AiMOS supercomputer – President Schmidt is focused on both re-inventing arts-science integration and engagement on campus and the surrounding community, and positioning RPI at the forefront of emerging technologies, to establish RPI and the Capital Region as a vital engine for U.S. technological innovation, manufacturing, business, and workforce development.

An accomplished administrative leader, researcher, and entrepreneur, Dr. Schmidt is also a recognized expert in the areas of microelectronics, microfluidics and semiconductor technologies and manufacturing. He has co-authored more than 80 archival journal publications and 120 peer-reviewed conference proceedings, has earned more than 30 U.S. patents, and has founded or co-founded seven startups. Reflecting his leadership in this domain, Dr. Schmidt is an appointed member of the CHIPS for America Industrial Advisory Committee, where he advises the U.S. Department of Commerce on the implementation of the CHIPS Act to strengthen American semiconductor leadership.

Before joining RPI, Dr. Schmidt most recently served as the provost at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 2014 to 2022. Over the course of his 30+ years at MIT, Dr. Schmidt also held positions as a faculty member in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, director of MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories from 1999 to 2006 and as associate provost from 2008 to 2013. He was also a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Dr. Schmidt earned his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from RPI in 1981. He received his S.M. in 1983—largely for research conducted at Lincoln Laboratory—and his Ph.D. in 1988, both in electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) from MIT.